Wind Syndrome
by Marshmellow-Ninja
Summary: John and Jade made their way onto the meteor and spend the next three years with the rest of the group. Then two years go by and stuff starts to happen (john/dave, other ships that are not the main one)
1. Chapter 1

- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 23:34—

EB: hey dave, guess what i just finished!

TG: sup john

TG: i don't know

TG: did you finish a computer program?

EB: no, that would be pretty cool though.

EB: actually, i just finished this story, and it was pretty spooky.

TG: oh another one of you supernatural stories that you are hooked on

EB: this one was pretty out there; this was the first time i've heard of these monsters.

EB: it was pretty crazy, do you want to read it?

TG: oh hell no there's no way i'm reading those fairy tales no matter how you look at it

TG: it couldn't even be considered cool in an ironic way

EB: wait, dave are you scared of them?

TG: yes john in fact at this very moment just with you bringing up your shitty folklore i have found myself uncontrollably quaking in my hypothetical boots

TG: i might not even be able to get to sleep tonight better get some spare sheets in case i piss the bed or i could pull a howie mandel and just put it in apple juice containers

TG: but i'm not going to soil the valiant containers of the enchanting apple juice

EB: ok dave, you're not scared, i was just bugging you. but i do think that the story i just read might be one of the eeriest i've read so far. it seems like something rose would enjoy.

TG: really well maybe you should talk to her about this

TG: i can't say that i am as into this as much as the two of you are

EB: you're right, good idea dave.

EB: guess what's coming up next month.

TG: you tell me

EB: come on dave, you really don't know, that hurts.

TG: i really don't

EB: it's on the thirteenth of next month.

TG: is it a Friday?

EB: dave!

TG: i'm just messing with you

TG: it's your birthday right

EB: you're a loser dave.

TG: ouch john

TG: do you hear that

TG: that's my self esteem crash landing the plane it was flying first class in

TG: way to attack my confidence aircraft

EB: way to be melodramatic.

EB: it's getting kind of late, i think i'm going to hit the hay.

EB: goodnight.

TG: night.

-ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 23:45—

-turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 23:45—

John sighed as he reclined back in his rolling chair. He glanced at the clock once again, the bright numbers illuminating the otherwise bleak space. He reached forward and put it face down on his desk. John sat there twisting back in forth with his feet on the ground where he sat. John usually would have ended up spinning a few times in his chair until he either got to dizzy to see straight anymore or he just got bored. But he was just too tired.

Don't you hate it when you can't put a book down and with every word you read you're persistently lured further and further into the book? Let's just say that this story had a tight grip on John and wasn't about to let go yet. John was extremely tempted to find another story that involved these creatures. They were unique to say the least. Off the beaten path and far surpassing the other lore he had read.

John stared at his computer screen debating whether or not he should continue this quest of the uncanny and paranormal. But this battle was won by his eyes and their unending struggle of trying to close. He rubbed his eyes drowsily then took a final stretch with his hands reaching far above his head and his legs sticking out so as not to touch the ground.

John walked over to his bed and took off the socks confining his feet to an unending warmth, a little too warm for bed time. It wasn't hot at this time of night, but when you had the blankets on you it was a little too much. John slumped onto his bed then wiggled around until he found a comfortable spot. He then began the struggle of not moving too much but pulling the blanket out from beneath his body. Once again luck was on his side and he won the battle bleary eyed and exhausted.

Even though he was tired, he did not fall asleep instantaneously as one would think. I mean, who really falls asleep instantly, unless you were doing work all day or are a heavy sleeper. John was neither. And that late night snack probably didn't help either. But a boy's got to eat when a boy's got to eat, even if it costs you valuable minutes of sleep.

John usually had to wait until his dad was asleep before he would sneak downstairs and head to the fridge to get the spoils of his espionage. John's dad was as persistent as the well written literature in that they wouldn't let his go. John's dad was a good father though. Even if he was a little pushy and clingy, he had only the best intentions. He truly cared for John, so he was only doing what he thought was best for him. But sometimes it wasn't always what John thought was best for him.

But soon enough, sleep took over and john was out like a light. We're not going to go over his dreams, I'm sure it would be best to stay out of the mind of a twelve year old boy with their violent games and magic tricks. But john's dreams were preoccupied with other things, he found himself immersed within the world of the supernatural and confronted with the monsters. The dreams went on through the night, the odd mumble slipping from his unconscious lips or a toss and turn of his sleeping body. At least he wasn't sleep-walking; it wouldn't be the first time. In fact, the first time he did it he had enjoyed a healthy meal of stairs and a cast clad upon his arm.

Night seemed to pass in the blink of the eye; it's funny how you don't even notice that you've fallen asleep until you wake up. Don't you think your brain is nice that way? While it does all the brute work of recovering the energy you used during the day, it sits you in front of the TV and puts on the dream channel to keep you entertained even while you're asleep. At least your brain has it's priorities straight even when you don't.

But John woke up not peacefully, but to the beeping blaring obnoxiously coming from his side table. Sometimes he wished he could just grab a hammer and get his sweet revenge on the infernal waking device. But today would not be that day. John reached drearily and blindly touching the table until he found the perpetrator responsible for waking him.

He might have added a little too much force when he hit the snooze button but he didn't care. He yawned and looked up at the ceiling through half open eyes and then stretched out a little. There were a few cracks when he stretched but he ignored it. He tossed the covers off with his feet then turned his alarm on and off so it wouldn't go off in ten minutes.

He then started his morning routine and got prepped for school. Oh the joys, early mornings, and unhygienic kids served up with a sunny side up plate of public humiliation. Now, we won't say that john was a complete loser, just; some kids thought his aspirations were a little unrealistic and maybe they were jealous, but that caused him to be the butt of the joke most of the time.

John didn't really mind, because he knew one day, when he's all grown up, he's going to be swimming in cash from his job as a comedian. He's going to go down in history, there's gonna be whole books written about him, maybe even an encyclopedia series, John: the master of humor, or something like that. John walked down the stairs with his back pack on one shoulder. John wished that when his dad decided to buy a house, he had bought one with a railing on the stairs, sometimes safety was a necessity.

When he got to the kitchen he peered around, looking for his dad. He was nowhere in sight. John went to the fridge and started making his lunch, a classic deli meat sandwich, an apple sauce, a bad of baby carrots and two juice boxes, he was a growing boy after all. John looked at the clock on the stove, it was 7:09. He still had an hour until his dad would drive him to school then go to work. He didn't really know what his dad did for work, he bet it was some crazy super-secret thing, dad by day, super spy also by day, he did work day shift after all.

When he was done making his lunch he got a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice. Just as he was about to head up to his room to go on his computer his dad made his move. John was grabbed from behind and there were hands wrapped around him right under his arms.

"Dad!" John said as he struggled to keep his food in his hands. He had left his guard down ,that was a bad move on his part.

"Good morning son."

"Dad, I almost dropped my food. Can you be a little more careful."

"Sorry. I know what will cheer you up, we still have an hour before we both have to go, how about we bake a cake together, we haven't done that for quite a while." He said as he let me go and walked around to face me, a smile on his face.

"Dad, I need to study a little more, I have a test today. Maybe another time." Of course this was a lie. But his dad was not being entirely truthful either. In fact, they had actually made a cake together last Friday. John didn't want to completely, he would have rather gone to an amusement park or something with his dad, but it seemed to be his biggest interest. John didn't hate his dad, and he liked to make him happy, but that seemed to be one of the only things his dad ever did.

"That's alright, good luck on the test son; remember to try your hardest, that's all that matters." He said kindly then started making his own lunch. John quickly escaped upstairs and sat down in his chair, spinning one time to right himself. He checked his pesterchum first; two of his chums were on, Rose and Dave. John clicked on Dave's username and opened up a chat.

-ectoBiologist [EB] started pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 7:15—

EB: hey dave, you there?

TG: hey

EB: what class do you have first thing in the morning?

TG: well seeing as how it's the same class i have every morning i'll let you guess

EB: oh yeah.

EB: science is pretty fun.

TG: best way to start the morning is with a bowl of doritos and a bottle of aj

EB: you really like apple juice.

TG: i can't believe you don't

EB: guess what dave?

TG: no

EB: come on dave, you just have to say one word.

TG: ok

TG: no

EB: whatever, be an ass, i guess you'll never figure out this super cool, super awesome secret that no one else knows. that's fine with me if you never want to find out and spend your nights restless and awake with the thought ,

EB: why didn't i just say what, why would you do this to me john.

EB: or something like that.

TG: fine, what?

EB: i…

EB: got my first armpit hair!

TG: you're a dweeb

TG: is that seriously all you wanted to say

EB: is that a hint of jealousy i'm detecting?

TG: i think your envy radar is a little off man

TG: i am spite free

EB: if you say so.

Their conversation continued, while john ate his cereal and drank his orange juice, until his dad called him from down stairs. John said good bye to Dave then turned off his computer. He grabbed his books then went cautiously down the stairs and stuffed his lunch and books into his bag.

Later, after he got home from school john talked to Rose about the story he had read, and in fact she had heard about the monsters before. She told him about the book she had and she recommended some stories to him. He wasted no time sitting down and reading them then they talked about them.

Normalcy is nice while it lasts. The days passed quickly and the anticipation built as his birthday neared. Of course, his birthday was more than he could have expected with the game that started the apocalypse. But he would be thirteen and move onto greener grasses, moving on from his hand held video games to the hard-core, action packed real life video games.

Yes, on his birthday, it was the arrival of sburb, the end of the world all crammed onto a 5 gb disk, the modern world and it's high-tech technology. But none of the players could have imagined what was in store for them. Over the next couple of days they conquered, they lost some things, while gaining things they could have never imagined, but somehow through it all, they survived. They did more than survive, they became gods. They gained powers that would be otherwise impossible in a normal reality. Of course, this was not a normal reality, their old universe was gone and they had to move on.

They game cost them more than they were willing to give, but they had to move on quickly or else they might not have survived. They all died in the end, but in dying they became more than normal humans, they became gods. But in the end, they lost to an enemy beyond even their godly capabilities. But they escaped with their lives, one on a meteor, the other on a boat flying through space.

It was just John and Jade on the boat, while Dave and Rose were on the meteor with their new friends.

TBC…

A/N: I don't really write in third person so this was odd to say the least, but I think it turned out well. Please review if you liked it. Thank you for reading it and I hope you liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Jade, how are you moving this ship?" John inquired as his gaped openly at the enormity of the craft.

"With my space powers, when I reached god tier my powers became stronger and I became better at using them." She smiled.

"That's cool. Can you do something else with your space powers?"

"Like what?"

"Can you teleport us to Dave and everybody else."

"Well, I can teleport you if you're asking, but I can't hold it open for me to go through it."

"So you wouldn't be able to come through?"

"No unless we figure out a way to hold open the portal."

"Hmm, could another space player do it?"

"Probably, depending on their class, I mean I think it would be possible."

"Well isn't Kanaya, that's her name right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, isn't she a space player too. You'd have to ask Rose or Karkat or her what her class is though."

"I think that could work, I could open up the portal and she could hold it open long enough for me to get through. Even if she's not god tier, she should be able to hold it open for a few seconds, you still have some powers even if you're not god tier yet."

"Okay, I'll message Karkat."

John pulled out his ear muff computer and opened up pesterchum.

-ectoBiologist [EB] started pestering carcinoGenesist [CG] at 12:47—

EB: karkat are you there?

CG: WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?

EB: can i talk to kanaya?

CG: WHY?

EB: well, i want to ask her about her spacey stuff.

CG: OK, ONE SEC I'LL GO GET HER.

CG: Hello John.

EB: this must be kanaya, we're planning on teleporting to the meteor.

EB: but we need to know if you can hold open a portal on that side long enough for jade to jump through. She's going to make one, and then i'll jump through.

EB: but she can't jump through the portal herself, so she needs you to hold it open so she can go through too.

CG: Hmm, I Think I Should Be Able To Do That For A Few Seconds.

EB: thanks kanaya, we are going to open the portal next to karkat in five minutes.

EB: so get ready.

CG: I Will Be Waiting.

-ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering carcinoGenesist [CG] at 12:59—

-carcinoGenesist [CG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 12:59—

"Okay Jade, she said she can do it in five minutes."

"That's great, do you have all your stuff?" she smiled. Her outfit was similar to one of the witches in the wizard of oz, or so john thought. But Jade most likely had no clue what that was, so he refrained from commenting on her new fancy pyjamas.

"Yeah, I don't need anything, as long as you still have the planets?"

"Yes john, I'm not going to lose three planets." She said.

"Good. Jade, if these are supposed to be pyjamas, why are we wearing shoes?"

"I… don't know John." This question did baffle them, they weren't even slippers but full out, everyday walking shoes. "Okay, I'm going to open the portal," as she said that she put her arms out like a rectangle and opened the portal.

"Can I just jump through it?"

"Yep, once you get to the other side, I'll give you thirty seconds so get Kanaya to hold open the portal, you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." As he said that he jumped through the portal. When he landed it was unexpectedly soft, loud, but soft. He looked down and realized why it was so soft. There was a screaming troll beneath him.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME JOHN!" John instantly jumped off Karkat. John didn't know what kanaya looked like, he had never seen her before.

"You must be John, I'm Kanaya." John looked at her then ran over to her. She was a lot pretty than he thought she would be.

"Okay Kanaya, just use your spacey powers and hold it open for a few seconds, then Jade will jump through." As John said that she held out her hands and concentrated, after a short few seconds Jade jumped through herself and the portal closed up the moment she was through.

"Whoa, that was cutting it close," She said wiping herself and stepping off Karkat. "What are you doing on the ground…Karkat?" Jade had never seen him either, she hadn't even seen rose. It was like meeting friends you had known forever all over again.

"SORRY FOR HAVING A PORTAL OPENED BEHIND ME WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE." He sighed then brushed his clothing off.

"Dave! You're okay, I thought I had killed you, I mean, I heard you had become godtier, so that's good", said Jade as she ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"The Dave-meister is safe and here to stay." Jade let go of him and laughed at him.

"Did you just call yourself 'the Dave-meister'?"

"Whatever, yo John", Dave waved at John, and a miracle happened, only have happened twice throughout the course of the story, Dave smiled. John also smiled, but a huge grin, unlike Dave's cool and subtle smile. John walked over to him and high fived him along with a short fist bump. It might have been considered the greatest fist pump in the universe, of course, it was probably the first fist bump in that universe, and so it was like killing two birds with one stone.

"Hello John and Jade," Said Rose from behind them with a smile on her face.

"Rose!" John and jade said in unison, both hugging her at the same time.

"Hey guys, it's been too long, and I believe this is our first meeting face to face jade."

"What happened to you Rose, the last thing I remember was getting stabbed, and then I woke up and there you were, you were dead!" John said sadly.

"Yeah, my memories of that are a little fuzzy, but I remember waking up as my dream self on Derse and Dave was there."

"Sorry for, you know, kissing you and all." John said embarrassed. Kanaya shot a look at him and then to Rose.

"Don't worry Kanaya; he did it so I wouldn't die." She said smiling at Kanaya. Kanaya smiled back, but there was definitely an eerie aura in that short second.

"See, my shipping chart was pure genius," Karkat said proudly.

"Enough with that shitty shipping chart, Karkat," Said Dave walking up from behind him.

"Whatever Strider, well I guess you aren't a complete failure John." said Karkat.

"You guys realize I'm also here right," said Terezi peeking out from behind Dave.

"You must be…Terezi," Said john somewhat forced. He didn't have the greatest relationship with Terezi after she killed his other timeline self, all their conversations seemed forced. Jade had never met Terezi before, in fact she had never even heard of her.

"Uhmm, I'm sorry, have we talked before."

"No, I suppose we haven't," Terezi walked over to Jade and grabbed her hand and shook it, "The name is Terezi Pyrope, nice to meet you."

"I'm Jade Harley, nice to meet you too."

"Hey John, It's been a while." Terezi snickers at him.

"Hey Terezi…" John said awkwardly.

"Hey Dave, this is the first time I've met you in person, you're just as cool as you described yourself, I mean, except for your hood." John chuckled at his gimpy hood, it was nowhere near as lengthly or flowy as his own majestic hood.

"What's wrong with my hood, not everyone was granted with a piece of fabric long enough to trip over." Dave said calmly.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, Dave I have something for you, I honestly don't know why I have it but here." John take an item out of his syllandex, it was an apple.

"Holy shit dude, you don't know how sweet this is. Rose, you can do it now, you can make it, you can make me the apple juice I have been waiting eternity for. Thanks bro." Dave said happily through his cool façade. The girls had already all crowded together and were talking, that left Karkat, Dave and John alone to talk amongst themselves.

"No problem. Hey Karkat you're a lot shorter than I pictured you to be."

"I COULDN'T HEAR YOU JOHN, COULD YOU SAY THAT A LITTLE LOUDER!" Karkat said angrily.

"You shouldn't say that, it sets him off," whispered Dave in my ear.

"I'll remember that," John said to Dave, "Sorry Karkat, I didn't mean that you're short."

"I KNOW I'M NOT SHORT…whatever, I'm fine."

"Okay." John said.

"John, I'm sorry about your, you know, your dad." Said Dave coolly.

"It's fine, I've already gotten over it," John wasn't over it, but he didn't feel the need to get all emotional over it at the moment, he had already had his moment when Rose and him found their bodies. He had looked so hard, He had tried so hard to find his Dad, but it was all in vain. His father was dead and there was nothing he could do about it.

"If you say so. Well we'll be spending the next three years together with nubs mcshouty over here for the time being, this is going to be fun." Dave said sarcastically

"Dave," John pulled out a deck of cards then shuffled them, "Pick a card." He held out the deck for him.

"Are you really going to show me one of your shitty magic tricks?"

"Just pick one, and their not shitty, they're cool."

"Whatever you say man," Dave grabbed a card and looked at it. John smiled and then put it back into deck form.

"Okay, just put it on top, don't tell me what it is, just put it in."

"Okay," Dave put his card on top and John shuffled the deck a little. He spread the deck a little in his hand and waved his other hand over top to add an air of magic. He grabbed a card and held it out to Dave.

"Is this your card?"

"Yeah." Said dave calmly. "Okay, maybe your magic isn't complete bullshit, but it's still just a trick."

"Whoa, how the fuck did you do that John, like seriously, how did you know." Karkat intervened.

"A magician never reveals his tricks." John said pompously.

"Come on john, tell me, you don't understand, how the fuck did you do it."

"I can't tell you." John tittered.

"Bullshit Egbert, you can't do this to me. You don't understand, do it to me then, I want to see through this utter fraud."

"Okay," John shuffled the deck once again then spread them for Karkat, "Pick a card." Karkat picked one up and looked at it, and then he put it back, all the while staring skeptically at John, trying to see through his scam. Of course this proved to be a bigger challenge than he originally thought.

"Was this you're card?"

"How did you do that? You know what, FUCK YOU JOHN, I don't need to know." Said Karkat angrily. Then he was quiet for a few seconds, staring at the deck.

"Do you want to try again Karkat?" Said john inquisitively?

"…-es"

"What, I couldn't hear you."

"WELL MAYBE YOU SHOULD GET YOUR EARS CHECKED! I said yes." And so this went on for a while, Karkat tried as hard as he could to see through it, but neither Karkat, nor Dave could figure it out. Dave wouldn't admit that he wanted to figure it out too, probably not as a much as Karkat, but nonetheless he still wanted to find out.

They all walked inside and sat down in the 'living room', it was probably the closest thing to a living room they had. John and Dave sat next to each other, and Terezi sat next to Dave, her head on his shoulder and their fingers intertwined. John rested against the arms rest and talked to Karkat who sat in the arm chair closest to him. Jade sat next to Rose and Kanaya. John and Jade talked to Karkat until John came up with an idea.

"Hey guys, I have an idea."

"And what would that be?" asked Rose.

"Let's play 'Go Fish'!" John said taking out his deck of cards once again. Everyone agreed, some more reluctant than others, but they still agreed. "So I'll explain the rules," John did and then he gave everyone some cards and then they played for a while until Karkat was losing and decided that no one else should win so he thought that they should play fifty-two pick up instead.

TBC…

A/N: Wow this chapter was not as good as it could have been, whatever, the future chapters will be better I can promise you that. Hope you enjoyed reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Two years had passed since John and Jade had joined the rest of the kids on the ship. Since their arrival, they had started to get close, learning about their lives back on earth and how the game session was for them. They told each other tales of their adventures and what they did. Even the trolls told them about how their session had gone, feeling close enough to share what had happened. Their session had been rough, having had prototyped 24 things instead of eight made their session pretty brutal.

John and Dave were walking around, they had just finished playing one of John's video games that he had brought from his house and set up on the meteor. John won, being the expert that he was at the ghost buster game from growing up and playing hours on end of the terrible graphics experience. They had played ten rounds in a row when Dave decided that they had played enough of the game. John pestered him for one more round but Dave didn't cave in.

John turned off the game and they went for a walk. They had reached the part of the meteor where there were stairs leading up to a room where you could go outside. They both walked up and after the short trek managed to get up through the trap door.

"It's so refreshing out here; it gets pretty stuffy in there after a while." John exclaimed stretching his back.

"Yeah, it's probably from Karkat sucking up all the air whenever he goes on rants that the oxygen has no time to repopulate itself." John laughed at his comment, Karkat was pretty talkative. Talkative might not be the right word, how about verbose and states his opinion, and his opinion usually ends in telling John to fuck off. Most times, he did need to.

"Yeah, he does get pretty loud. I wonder how his lungs can handle that, he's so short, maybe he has like three lungs, I mean, they are another species, they could have five stomachs for all I know." John said then sat down at the edge of the roof.

"Gross man. Now you got me picturing their weird ass anatomy, no thanks." Dave said sitting down beside him.

" Sorry, but I mean, I wonder if they're like us. Probably not though," John smiled while adjusting his glasses a little.

"Maybe, but we'll never know man. Some of them had those powers and stuff." Dave said calmly.

"Yeah, wouldn't that be cool to like be able to control people with your minds, Vriska could do that, I think she even did it to me once," John said.

"Oh yeah, I think you told me about her once," He leaned back, resting on his arms outstretched behind him.

"Well, she could only make me go to sleep."

"That's kind of lame."

"Yeah I guess it is. So how are things going with Terezi?"

"Well, she's been going out with this other guy, but it's in a different quadrant, they have four you know right."

"Oh yeah, Karkat told us about that when he made that shitty shipping chart."

"That was pretty shitty. But anyways, so I guess ours would be in the red quadrant, and theirs would be in the black. Or that's how it seems. I don't really understand it that well."

"Yeah, it's pretty weird."

"But, the thing is, I'm trying to be culturally understanding, but it just feels like she's cheating on me, I know that to her she's not."

"That's hard Dave. Do you love her?"

"She's cool and she's totally funny and shit, but lately I've been asking myself that question. Do I even like her anymore?"

"I used to like Vriska, I don't really anymore though, it's probably because we haven't talked to each other in so long we just naturally parted. It's not a big deal anymore, but I really did like, I just wish I had told her at the time. But it's alright now; I just hope she's happy," John sighed and looked up at the stars.

"Hmm, I think I'll talk to her about this later."

"It's weird how we're moving at light speed but it doesn't feel like it when we're just sitting here. Like, we're moving, but it doesn't feel like we're moving."

"Dude, it was like that on earth, and on every other planet, that's how they work. There is this weird invisible field called gravity."

"Oh yeah, I learned that in school. I can't say I miss school, but I guess I just miss my old life."

"Ouch dude, that means you wouldn't have got to see me face to face."

"No it's not that Dave, I'm sure we all would have met up eventually, but I miss being a normal kid." John laid back on the floor and closed his eyes.

"I guess I miss it too. Maybe I could've made a career like my bro, I didn't really want to follow in his footsteps, more like, I wanted to walk beside him, but doing my own thing. I'm not really into the puppet business."

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," John chuckled.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Well, it wasn't until I pointed out how fucking creepy the puppets were that you were scared of them," John laughed a little more.

"Now that I think about it, it is your fault, you're an asshole dude. But I didn't like my bro's other puppets to begin with, but I used to genuinely think lil' Cal was cool, but then john decided to fuck that up, thanks."

"No problem." They stayed like that for a while, just talking about their past, just talking. John and Dave had gotten closer since they had settled on the meteor. John had started out with pranks that started out heavy but gradually disappeared. John did prank anyone the odd time, but unlike his former bombardment of the practical jokes, it had become a rare thing.

Dave of course, did not enjoy that pranks, he could in no way think of them as an ironic thing. But even Dave's quest for all things ironic had diminished. They were growing up and out of their old habits. John had especially discovered this when they had a mass screening of Con Air. John came to accept the fact that the movie sucked, it genuinely and utterly sucked. This fact did not make John happy.

Davesprite was happier than he had been before, even though he really didn't show when he was happy at all, in fact, ever. Dave and Davesprite had gotten along, they even had a few rap sessions, and Jade and Davesprite had been going steady since they got on the meteor and their relationship was strong.

Rose and Kanaya's relationship was going swimmingly, in fact, it was going stupendously. They had kicked it off since day one and had been inseparable ever since. But lately Rose had been on the bottle. It was only a little bit, but soon it might progress to addiction.

Karkat usually hung out with John and Dave or with Terezi when she and Dave weren't together being radical and what not. Lately, it had not been so radical of course with Terezi's constant sneaking away to go see Gamzee and go do some very black things with him. Of course, pretty much everyone on the meteor knew of the relationship due to Terezi's shitty sneaking job.

John and Dave went down to the rest of the group and sat down on the couches. John laid down on the couch and pulled out a supernatural book. John had read this one numerous times, but lately he couldn't find any ones on the meteor. He had only gone to scavenge the bookshelves a few times but each time he came back empty handed. He had read on the internet a lot, but he enjoyed the feeling of a good old book in his hand.

Karkat walked in with a coffee and sat in the Arm chair. He sat quietly and enjoyed his beverage and kept his eyes closed. Dave stared at him, most likely just to get a reaction out of him. They say good things come to those who wait, but I'm sure a angry troll might not be considered a good thing.

"Why the fuck do you keep staring at me?"

"I'm not staring at you; you can't even tell where my eyes are through my shades."

"Well you sure as fuck aren't looking at the ceiling when your entire body is facing me."

"The ceiling is a pretty hot piece of rock, you should check it out."

"Fuck off Strider. I am trying to enjoy my coffee like a civilized person."

"Okay, drink your bean water. I don't really like it myself, prefer the sweet succulent juices of apples, or as I like to call it, juc du pomme."

"Well, the drink grows on you."

"Well I think any kind of growing with you is probably good." Karkat glared at Dave.

"I'm going to be the bigger man here and not fall for your childish shit."

"I think we both know who's the bigger man here."

"Seriously Strider if you're that bored, go do something. I don't even care if you want to have some shitty rap off with yourself, just go do something, anything, so long as it does not involve me." Karkat sighed then once again resigned himself to his drink.

"Fine, Hey John, want to play poker with Karkat."

"You know how to play poker?" John said looking up from his book, he hadn't been reading, he was really just listening to their conversation, it was more entertaining anyways.

"Yeah, I learned at school."

"I already said I don't want to play with you Strider."

"Fine, lets play a different game then like- " but he was cut off by John.

"Strip poker!"

"No fucking way dude, not with just three guys." Dave said seriously.

"You're the one who brought up Poker," John sat up and put the book to the side, "I understand it you are scared, it's alright to be a late bloomer."

"I'm not a late bloomer, if anyone one of us was, it sure as fuck wouldn't be me."

"Yeah, it would probably be Karkat."

"Why do you guys constantly feel the need to make jokes and my height, on my planet this height is considered average."

"We know you're lying, it seems that you guys grow the same as us, unless you keep growing taller later, but I think until then you guys are the same," John said the Karkat.

"He's probably just embarrassed because his height is probably not the only short thing about him."

"Fuck you strider, and fuck you John, fuck each other, I don't give a fuck, just leave me THE FUCK ALONE!" Karkat got up, spilling his coffee on himself in the process and left to go get some more and treat the burn.

"Maybe we went a little too far Dave." Said john feeling slightly guilty for pushing his buttons that much. Don't get me wrong, John can be a complete and utter ass, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel bad when he makes fun of his friends insecurities.

"Yeah, but I think he'll get over it, he's pretty strong."

"I have an idea, how about we tell scary stories!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because that's stupid."

"I think you're just afraid."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No."

"Yes- fuck. Fine, but you're going first."

"I was planning on that. Hmm… oh I know, just the perfect one. Ok, once I was walking home from the library and it was dark. I was on my phone and it was pretty late, I sent a message to my dad that I would still be a few minutes; he got pretty worried when I got home too late. I was walking and there was no one else on the street. I had picked up a few paranormal books and I was pretty excited to read them. It was a full moon that night so I pulled out my phone and turned on the camera and took a picture of the moon for supernatural purposes. Then just because I wanted to, I decided to take a picture of myself because I was out after dark. Yes I'm aware I was a loser but I felt a little rebelish staying out so late. Now, my phone automatically detects faces in the picture with little squares. When I went to take a picture of myself, there was my square, and a little, small square in the corner right behind me." John said keeping an eerie tone and trying his best to make it a scary as possible.

"Wow, that was pretty spooky, caught me quivering in my boots, or slippers, or whatever the fuck you'd call these. I might even need to equip myself with a diaper in case we continue this, just so if I piss myself I'll be prepared."

"Okay Dave, I'll make sure to alchemize you some next time." John and Dave continued, Karkat showed up later with a fresh mug of coffee. Later, Kanaya and rose joined in on the action along with Jade and Davesprite. Jade ended up telling the scariest story about how once she accidently created a monster that almost killed her, she was lying of course, but none of the others knew that.

TBC…

A/N: Wow, who wrote this in the middle of the night, me. Who can tell it was written in the middle of the night? Everyone. Review if you enjoyed and thank you for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

John was in the 'library' as he had called it. It was a suitable name considering the amount of bookshelves that were there. John had discovered this room after exploring for a while. He found it over a year ago but had only been there a little over five times. Dave had come along with him and so had Karkat. Karkat was skimming the shelves to see if there was any alternian literature, but he couldn't find any. There was English literature though.

John searched the shelves to see if he could find any interesting books. Dave and Karkat were looking at another shelf. Dave was making fun of most of the books he picked up, either by reading them aloud in a mocking tone, or changing the words and making it completely different.

Karkat did laugh though, inwardly, in his mind. He didn't want to give Dave the satisfaction of knowing that he could make him laugh. Karkat, like all the trolls, had learned English before the time the kids played their session. Karkat was well informed on the language and could definitely out talk anyone else who dared challenge him with the language. So while John was preoccupied with his quest of finding some books that he would like, Dave had scribbled in one of the books. The scribbles were somewhat immature, and then Karkat decided to join in on the action.

John brushed his hand against the spines of the books, leaving streaks of parted dust on the covers. John pulled out a book and blew on the cover making all the dust flutter off. He carefully opened it and started reading. It seemed like a history book of carpacian society. John knew some of them, he was even close friends with one, his name was the mayor, or at least that was what he was called.

He had never really delved too far into the base of the game and learned about the citizens. He hadn't even known much about Derse or Prospit. He knew a lot of the carpacians lived there, but he hadn't talked to them seeing as how the planet had been destroyed the moment his dream-self woke up.

John put the book back on the shelf picked up a new one. This one was an action novel with a white knight faced against a black knight but they both end up falling in love with a white pawn. John skimmed through the pages but he was definitely not a big romance fan. Sure he thought that the fighting against both sides was pretty interesting and the part where the black knight becomes an exile but not after killing a lot of his own men to save the girl was cool, he didn't feel like reading a book lined so heavily with affairs of the heart. But he still thought the knights were really cool.

He continued his search and still his searching was bearing no fruit. He sighed and then walked to the other side of the shelf. He picked up a few more books and flick through the pages. He had found one book that seemed pretty cool. But he still felt like it was not the right book. He wished that whoever had put this library together had organized it instead of random placement. There were mystery novels placed next to geography textbooks.

Then John had an idea. He had never tried anything like it before but surely he could if he tried hard enough. John pulled some books off the shelves and put them on the ground. He sat down in front of them and breathed in. He closed his eyes and outstretched his hands. He imagined some of his windy powers going through his hands into the pages. He could feel the ink against the pages and he could feel the paper against his element. It felt like he himself was touching the pages, reading the books himself.

And he was faster, he was reading through the books in front of him faster than he could have imagined while still retaining the knowledge that was inside. It felt weird, it felt like he was inside the book feeling every page, the words were jumbled until they went inside his head and organized themselves.

Then he pulled himself out. He sat there dumbfounded and dazed for a second. Maybe he should try a slower approach. He had just read through ten books in a matter of seconds and he felt a rush of energy he couldn't comprehend. He rubbed his head and picked up the books, placing them back in their rightful spot on the shelf. He stared at the books, he could remember every single thing in all ten books he had just read through. He now knew how to cook fifty different side dishes with anchovies and he also knew about a few wars that had occurred on some of the planets.

Once his head cleared he felt this urge to do it again, like an itch in his brain that he needed to do this. This strange compulsion urged him to just try a little more. It felt amazing, pulling all that knowledge from the pages at a breakneck pace. He looked at the bookshelf before him and closed his eyes. He pushed out the air a little more and felt it going through the pages. The wind traveled into each book and went down the shelf. The books remained on the shelf and didn't even move from their spots.

It had only been a few seconds but John had already read through the contents of the entire shelf. His head felt cloudy for a second, but it wasn't as bad as before and cleared up much faster too. His hands were shaking a little but he felt refreshed and his head felt clearer than ever. He knew so much in an instant. He could recollect each and every word, each paragraph, each page. It was more than just reading it was memorizing. He could feel the words inside him, he felt like he had breathed in the knowledge and it was inside him now. He wanted to do it again, just a little more he thought.

"John! Where you at?" Dave said, interrupting his train of thought. John quickly snapped out of it and no longer felt the compulsion or desire he had mere seconds ago. He looked in the direction he heard Dave's voice.

"Over here Dave." John called back. Dave and Karkat walked over to where John was. Dave was carrying a book under his arm.

"Did you find anything?" Karkat asked.

"We were thinking of heading back."

"Yeah, I'll try again some other time." John said.

"What do you want to do when we get back?" Karkat asked.

"hmm… How about I put on a magic show? I can't believe I haven't done that yet." John said happily, thinking of all the possible tricks he could do.

"It's kind of drafty in here, let's go." Dave said nonchalantly and they turned to leave. They all left and walked back to the main room. Let's just call it the living room; it seems it's where they do most of their living anyways. Once they got back John went to go look for Jade. It didn't take long to find them. Jade was hanging out with Davesprite and they were in one of the spare rooms talking about stuff. John knocked on the door and waited a short second. Jade was the one at the door and opened it with a smiling face.

"Hey John, do you need something?" She said smiling, but she was just a little annoyed at having being interrupted when she was hanging out with her boyfriend.

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Depends?"

"Can you shrink me down so I can get some stuff out of my house?"

"Oh, ok sure, just tell me when you want to come back." John went in with her and then she started to shrink him down. John didn't really like the sensation. It didn't feel like he was getting smaller, it just felt like everything else was getting bigger. It felt unnatural.

Once john was on his planet he went into his house. The stairs were blocked with the bathtub so he just floated over everything, it was much more convenient. He looked around at his house. It had been so long since he had been here that he felt somewhat out of place. It didn't really feel like his house anymore. It felt like it had been another John's house, but not his house.

He looked around at the pictures on the walls, not as haunted as he used to be of them. He looked at the fireplace and the picture of his Nanna. But even though the game was over the evidence of it taking place was still there. The ink from the imps was still everywhere and there were a few hats left over from when he had defeated them all. The house was also a mess. He had completely messed up the entire house on his way through the beginning of the game.

John went up to his room and started to rummage through his stuff and look for his old magic kit. He looked all over his room even though it had been messed up when he had just started the game. He walked over to his computer and decided that he would fuck around on it. He turned it on and opened up pesterchum. He didn't talk to anyone on it though. Instead, he scrolled through some of his old messages with his friends. He scrolled past the stuff he had said during the game and instead went to before the entire thing had even started.

He read through the simple messages, when they didn't have to worry about staying alive or creating a completely new universe. He had used to worry about when the next episode of his favorite TV show was going to air, or what his dad was going to make for diner. He had used to worry about crushes on the girls in his class, and on one occasion the teacher. He smiled at his naivety and his utter dorkiness when he would talk about his favorite things. Dave was still cool though, Dave had been cool from the start. He was still cool, cooler than John or Karkat or even Rose.

He felt his eyes burning a little and decided that was enough of remembering the past. He sighed and turned off his computer and decided to go back to searching for his magic kit. His room was a mess and somewhat crowded with debris and what not. He sighed and continued looking. It had been so long since he had been in here that he had forgotten where anything was. He had come back here a few times to grab some of his stuff to bring back to the meteor and show his friends.

It seemed that his room, and the rest of the house, had collected quite a bit of dust while he was gone. He had come back a lot at the beginning of the two years, but after a month or two he only came back to get the odd thing. So other than that, the house had remained untouched and was slowly being abandoned.

He went through his magic chest and found his kit. He smiled at it. It was somewhat nostalgic looking at it. He remembered the hours he had spent practising the tricks in the book that came along with it. He remembered watching the dvd that came with it and he had tried so hard on every trick. He did get pretty good though and he could still remember how to do all the tricks. But he might be a little rusty so he decided to practise a little to refresh his memory.

He opened up the kit on his bed and pulled out the deck of cards in it. He usually carried cards around, but those are just normal playing cards, these ones, were magic. He read through the manual a little bit and then performed a few tricks. He decided to just stick with the card tricks for now and continued to practise the ones he knew. Then, after some good brushing up, he decided to learn a new one, or start to anyways. He read through it a little and started to get the gist of it.

He did what the instructions said but ended up dropping them instead of doing what the trick actually said. John bent over and picked up the cards, then counted them to make sure he had all of them. He had only 51. He looked around where he was standing. Nothing. He got down on his knees and looked under his bed and immediately saw the card. But the card was not the only thing down there.

He reached forward and couldn't reach it. he used to be able to squeeze under the bed no problem, he knew this because it used to be his main hiding spot when his dad came to find him. Of course, it only worked the first time, but he still kept it up even after his dad knew about the hiding spot. The thing was though, every time john hid under the bed, his dad would still pretend to not know where he was and look everywhere else in the room, then after his search he would look under the bed.

John stretched his arm and then used a little of his wind powers to pull it out from under the bed. It was a large book. He looked at the cover and then remembered where he had got it. He remembered when Rose gave it to him when he was younger when he had talked to her about some sort of paranormal lore. She ordered him a copy of this book, saying it was really good, and gave it to him for his twelfth birthday. He had been really excited about reading it, but somehow, had entirely forgotten about it up until this moment.

He put it in his fetch modus. Dave had given John one of his old ones when the wallet he had been given was lost. He also put the magician kit inside it. He walked outside and then called to Jade. He was then shortly returned to normal size.

"Thanks Jade."

"No problem."

"Hey, do you want Davesprite want to watch my Magic show?" John said happily.

"I think we'll pass on it this time, but I'm sure the others would love to." Jade said pushing John out of the room.

"Okay, you kids be safe." John laughed to himself and then returned to the living room. Dave and Karkat were sitting and talking and Rose and Kanaya had showed up as well.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, and Karkat, prepare to be amazed."

"At how long it takes you to get a magic kit." Dave said. Then John ignored his comment and started the show.

TBC…

A/N: Wow, this chapter is poop. Whoa bad words. Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will start working on the next one soon. Please review if you enjoyed, thanks for reading.


	5. Chapter 5

John was bored. John was more than bored; he was practically chased out of his own mind with boredom. Of course, he was usually bored, after spending two years on this meteor they hadn't discovered very many new things to do. So, John had given up. He had been sitting mindlessly on the ground, blowing around some of the dust in front of him.

It had been a month since he had brought his magic kit back to the meteor from his house. It was quite short lived though. He had been overly eager to learn some new tricks, and he did. But as all things that are done too much, they become tiresome very easily, and fast too I might add. After that week was over a John had gotten his fill of magic and trickery, he had spent the majority of his time in the library.

He read and read, filling up his head with any book he could find. He came across a few books he had read as well, or at least, it felt like he had read them before. He couldn't remember ever reading them, but there was an entire shelf that he had read, he couldn't remember ever even picking up one of them. It was odd, but John decided to leave it alone for the time being. But he knew one thing; all of the books on that shelf had practically no dust and looked like they had just been dusted recently.

John had read a particularly interesting book on chess. He had never played the game before and thought it would be a splendid time to take up the sport. He still didn't understand a lot of the rules, but he had taken a peculiar liking to the game and was picking it up fast over the few weeks. He even found a board in one of the rooms near the roof where he and Dave would chill. It was missing some pieces so John had to improvise and use whatever was lying around that was small enough, writing the name of the piece it was standing in for in permanent marker.

Dave was quite good at the game too. He had played a little bit before, but his skills were pretty rusty from not playing it for so long. After all, Dave was formerly a member of the chess club at his school, he was the vice president. He thought that stealing the spotlight and stealing all the thunder wouldn't be very ironic because he was the best player on the team**.** So he stuck to the corners and acted as the stoic, cool faraway kind. In reality he really badly wanted to help his team mates improve their game, but he would only help when they asked him to, as to not look to eager and lame.

So, John lost every match against Dave. But when he was pitted against Karkat in the cut throat battle of chess and one sided cussing, John always won. Karkat was not new to the game like John, but that didn't mean he was good either. He was the worst on the Meteor, probably the worst out of the group of friends. Dave and Rose were the best. Unexpectedly, Kanaya was almost as bad as John, barely beating him every time he challenged her.

John still played Chess and his latent skills were still developing, but recently he had found another was to preoccupy his time. A book, and not just any book. It was a book given to him by his dear friend on his twelfth birthday. He hadn't read much paranormal books since his arrival on the meteor, most likely due to their rarity, but he could barely put this one down. It was odd to say the least. It seemed familiar, like a memory from the past. He could barely remember when he had read one story about these creatures. He could only find one story. They were truly rare and unknown to most of the human race. Although, now it would be known by half the human race, seeing as how two out of four kids knew about them.

But right now, John didn't feel like reading the book, he wanted to savor it, reading only one chapter at a time. He was already ten chapters in. There was a grand total of twenty. It was truly a test of perseverance for the pubescent young man. Now we are back to John, playing idly with the dust on the ground. He sat with his legs spread out in front of him and leaning back on one hand, twirling the dust with his finger half-heartedly. He was most likely thinking of a new strategy to beat strider at a match of chess, of course at his current skill level that would be proven impossible in their next game.

John floated himself to a standing position. John had been also working on his power and controlling them more precisely and found himself doing this now without even a second thought. Instead of grabbing something, he would make it float over to himself instead. He didn't even walk on the ground anymore and sort of just walked on the air instead. He felt freer in the air, as if by touching the ground meant being grounded to it. It was starting to feel weird. John didn't mind though, as floating became second nature to him.

John walked; I will refer to his floating as walking, and he left the library. He walked down the corridor, looking at the odd picture adorning the otherwise bland rock wall. It wasn't anything special, just a carpacian knight. He kept walking. It was pretty quiet, it always was around the library, and John was pretty much the only one who ever went in there.

He kept mindlessly walking, not really paying attention to where he was going, sort of in a daze. He was like that a lot recently, really recently actually. It had only started two weeks ago. He started to feel more distant. John snapped out of it and looked at his surroundings. He was lost. He didn't know how much time had passed, but he knew it couldn't have been that long.

He kept walking to see if he could find a familiar path, but alas he couldn't. But there was something odd. At the end of the hallway, on the right wall, between a picture of Prospit and a picture of Derse, was a door way. And I say door way because there was no door, it might as well have been a door shaped hole, and in a sense, that's all it was. It was dark, That was defiantly one of the obvious things about it.

A sense of curiosity awakened in John and he felt the need to go in it. He grabbed a torch off the wall and stood in the entry way. He started walking. The light from his torch didn't extend that far and he could only see a few feet in front of him, which only fed the fires of his excitement. It was somewhat dank, like this part of the castle like building they had all found themselves living in had been forgotten long ago. The ground was cracked and there was an abundance of dust everywhere, you could practically feel it in the air. If it was just a little bit thicker it could have qualified as a fog.

"Oh man!" John said happily, he didn't know what awaited him at the end of the tunnel, but he knew one thing, he couldn't wait. He was practically shaking with excitement. You could tell he was excited, he was almost beaming. He looked at the walls to see if there would be any secret hidden messages usually left for adventurers. They walls were dusty and rough, but still very much messageless.

The pathway continued straight for what seemed like forever with only the sound of the soft breeze beneath his feet sounding down the lengthly corridor. John whistled a tune he had almost forgotten, a relic of the past near the back of his mind. It was almost subconscious due to his growing boredom. It was understandable of course. Unbeknownst to john himself, he had walked at least a kilometer into the deep, forgotten passageway. It was not looking hopeful with such a long walk down a straight passageway with no turns, or at least had no turns anyways.

In fact, John had come to a fork in the metaphorical road, unless the hallway was a road for very small people with tiny, tiny cars, but that didn't seem to be the case since no small vehicles were present. And John was not small enough for this to be considered a road so we'll just stick with reality and not silly hypothetical possibilities. Tiny cars might even be considered to silly to be a possibility by some people, but I beg to differ.

Anyways, john was at a crossroads. Left or right was the decision. He might come to regret it, or be blown away with his phenominal sense of choice. Or course, it would not be the latter concerning this decision. Oh no, that would be too lucky for this boy. This boy was not meant for having an easy go. If he was to become the hero he has to go through some shit, knee deep in fact. Uphills both ways, against the rain and hail, like how his father had to walk to school sans the shit. No, but john did have a spot on decision making technique.

"Left or right…" said john in his no longer crackly pubescent voice. No, he was on the straight and narrow path of becoming a god man, as well as journeying through this forgotten strip. "Well, since right is right, it's the right decision." See, brilliant technique. So John continued down the right pathway, never to find out where the left way went. Maybe he would double back and explore the left as well when he had finished this side, but that would be another silly hypothetical possibility not likely of being made reality.

John turned to the right and walk home free. He picked up his speed a little out of anticipation and impatience. He was back in his excited state and couldn't wait to see what was at the end of the hall. Times like this were usually accompanied by some suave music in all the movies, but john made up with his expert, almost godly, whistling skills. Surely if he ever made it back to earth he could win some awards at least, maybe even break some records for the worlds longest whistling with no stopping. Who couldn't wait for the future when it was so promising.

John had successfully passed his first trial in this exploration and the excitement was back. He could practically smell victory. He could smell the victory, but that was not the only smell in the air. It was unfamiliar to him. It was…unsettling. John continued on, the scent caught in his throat. He ignored the scent and came to a corner. It was the first turn in his path and he was even more excited, completely forgetting the strange scent. so he took the corner and kept walking for a few minutes.

John was coming closer to the scent and it was growing stronger. It was stifling. John came to a opening and it was like a big room, well, not overly big, just somewhat. John flashed the torch around the room and something caught his eye. It was in the corner of his eye. It was different from the usual grey and rusty metal tones that had been present up until this point he looked at it at the ground then lifted his light a little closer and higher to see where the color was coming from.

John regretted this decision immediately. When he lifted the light, john found the rest of Karkat's friends. Then he screamed and proceeded to get the hell out of there very, very fast.

TBC…

A/N: Woo, that chapter was so dragged out. Whatever, I hoped you enjoyed it and continue to enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it :) until next time


	6. Chapter 6

John hadn't slept for what seemed like days now. He was in his room, clutching a book to his chest, and sitting there in silence. He was staring at a random spot on the wall. John had known his friend had all died to become god-tier, he had even seen his dad and roses's mom's corpse. But the corpses he had seen a few days ago seemed so real. When he was in the game it all felt like he had been on some weird sugar high, barely feeling the calamity that had taken place. he was fully beginning to realize what messed up shit had occurred.

It was more than just being stabbed though, the corpses he had seen had been mutilated, beheaded and bruised and bashed. John hadn't gotten the greatest of ganders but he didn't need to to know what he saw. He even began reflecting on his father's death, and his planet's death. All those people had been killed because he wanted to play a game with his friends. Six point five billion people were dead because of him.

Everyone he knew, or would've known were dead. Well, except for his friends on the meteor going to some giant window. And for what? So they could meet their ecto-parents. He still wouldn't get his dad back. He couldn't get any of what he lost back. John was dwelling deeply.

Then there was a knock on his door. John didn't look up, but the door didn't open either. There was a second of silence and then a voice from behind the door.

"Hey, John, you've been cooped up in there for days man. That shit ain't too healthy. You should come out and talk to us… It's been off without you there, you're like the guy with the firm grip on the spirits, and you lift them pretty high I might add. Got some pretty stretchy arms," he sighed, " I'm going to come in, okay?" John didn't answer and in turn Dave walked in, closing the door behind him.

"You okay?" Dave said as he approached John. He stood there, his hand running through the back of his hair, thinking of something clever to say to make John talk to him. John spoke first.

"I found them Dave…" John said, barely above a whisper. He said it inwardly, his head in his arms, folded over his knees tightly close to his chest.

"Could you speak up John, I forgot to pack my super hearing helper." Dave said sarcastically, moving closer to John so he could hear him.

"I said", pulling his head out of his arms, " I found them." He looked up at Dave with fear in his eyes.

"What did you find?" Dave said moving a little closer. It was odd to see John in this state, he was a happy-go-lucky dweeb, but yet here he was, shaken with fear.

"…who…"

"Who?"

"It's who did I find…"

"What are you talking about John, _who_ did you find?" Dave said calmly, sitting at the edge of the bed, head tilted towards John.

"Karkat's friend…"

"What do you mean by that exactly?" Dave's interest piquing along with his worry.

"His other team mates… you know… the dead ones…" Dave's mind went blank. He couldn't understand what he heard, like his brains auto-function decided to take a short vacation.

"His dead team mates…" Dave said almost without thinking, it just came out, slowly as if reflecting, thinking out loud one might say.

"Yeah…"

"How… how- or where did you find them?" Dave said, turning towards John. Dave understood death, he had even had his fair share of corpses, fresh ones. How old must have the ones been that John had seen, two years at least. That's how long they'd been on the meteor after all. Rotting corpses…decomposing flesh falling off the bone. From what Dave had heard from Karkat, troll blood doesn't darken when it ages, so it must have been the decaying bodies strewn around in a sprayed rainbow that mixed and flowed in a puddle around them.

"I was just walking… then I found this doorway, I had gotten to the older part of the building… I just wanted to explore, it's so boring on this meteor. I just kept walking, it was pretty exciting too. It was like a game. But then I got to the end of the hall. They were there. I don't know how many there were, I only looked for a few seconds before getting out of there…" John said, looking at Dave with expectant eyes.

"That must have been pretty hard to see. I thought that the clown guy had stashed all the bodies somewhere. I guess you found them."

"Dave…you saw your bro's corpse, right?"

"Yeah… I did, I think it was a pretty sick way to go though, facing the enemy, even without any of the sick powers the game gives you. He just did what he thought was right, saving us from the bad guy. He might not have succeeded, but he was pretty bad ass if you ask me."

"What was it like, seeing him dead?" Dave raised his eyes brows at John, but answered his question.

"Well it sure as fuck wasn't easy, that's for sure. I guess it didn't really seem real, even if the cold stone slab of truth was slapping me in the face. I guess now when I look back it seems a lot more real than it did when we were playing the game. But I'm pretty sure I was a loser back then, but still cooler than you, you know. It was pretty hard though, even if I didn't cry or anything." Dave said, picking at the stuff under his nails like it was this thing that shouldn't be there. He wasn't looking at John anymore, kind of just talking to himself at this point.

"Yeah, I know what you mean… it was like that when I saw my dad. We've all had it pretty rough in the game, haven't we? We all lost our guardians… Dave, was it even real? It was all a game right, so are they even dead. To me… I don't feel like they're dead, it was just a game right, that's all it was supposed to be."

"John, even if it was a game, it had pretty hefty stakes… I think it was more than a game. I guess the game just shows up when that planet says ' yo, I think we need to make a new fucking universe' and like files a complaint to the boss so they send it the game so they can make one. It's a pretty big deal. Lots of filing and submitting in the big office, but it all comes down to the decision of the big cheese. I guess it's a planetary sacrifice that's needed to make a universe."

"… That makes sense." John still felt off about the whole thing, he was growing up. He was realizing things he hadn't in the beginning. John was changing. He was finished the game so why hadn't everything gone back to normal.

"John, can I talk to you about something. It's a littler personal so it's okay if you sound the alarm and say back off bro. That would be fine."

"It's fine Dave, what's happening?"

"Well," he rubbed the back of his neck, "It's about Terezi. I've tried really hard to be culturally understanding, but it's not working. It's not like I'm clingy or anything, but we're supposed to be in a relationship, so why does it feel like she's cheating on me. I know that this is one of the different quadrants, but I just can't stick with this. It's just confusing, because this might be such a lame excuse from her point, but to me it's legit."

"Have you told her about how you feel?"

"Yeah, that's when she explained the quadrants to me again. Fuck the quadrants; seriously, it's not for me. I'm human, and it's like Karkat said, humans can't have quadrants. I'm just getting sick and tired of this. She's constantly sneaking off to go see the juggalo guy and she's too ashamed to admit it but everyone else knows about their relationship. I'm like one hundred percent sure even Karkat knows about it."

"Yeah, even I know. Well, maybe… you should call it quits Dave." John said, sitting beside Dave, feeling much calmer now. He was still bothered by the bodies, but when Dave was with him, it was like his worries were a lot smaller and could be put in littler boxes and thrown away. John was irritated by how Terezi was acting though.

"Maybe… I should probably talk to her later about this. You know what John, I am going to dial up the quits today, I will bring it down and serve it up for her. I think this will probably be the best thing to do." Dave put his hands down by his side.

"You're right. You deserve better Dave. I mean, Terezi's a great girl and all, but this relationship just isn't. It was great in the start Dave, and I was happy for you, but it's been falling apart when she started hang out with that clown guy" John put his hand on top of Dave's without even realizing it, " I think it will be the better thing to do. She can be with that guy, and you won't be feeling like this anymore." Dave looked down at the hand on top of his while John prattled on about Dave's relationship.

Dave looked from the John's hand to his face. He looked at his mouth which seemed to never stop chattering, his ears not entirely hidden by his black hair. He looked at his eyes, his blue eyes. His eyes that seemed to hold the entire world and the wind that blew from each corner of the earth. His eyes that were serious but bright. Dave remembered how bright they were when they first met, when they were hopeful of the journey ahead of them. How much they had darkened over the course of two years.

Dave looked at John and realized how much he had grown, how had he not noticed it before? His jaw was sharper, his cheek bones more defined. He had grown up, they both had, how had they not noticed? John was more of a man than he thought he could be. John and him were both 16, growing boys on their way to the manhood-tier. No longer boys, they would set sail on the SS man.

Dave eyes drifted to John's lips, and John turned to Dave just about to finish his statement. Dave leaned forward and let their lips touch. Johns were softer than he thought. He was under the impression they wouldn't be soft as a girls, but it turns out, they both feel the same.

John had finally stopped talking; he had stopped entirely, frozen completely due to shock. Dave put his hand on John's knee and held the kiss for a few more seconds. When he pulled back he stared into John's eyes once more, he felt the corner of his lips tugging up, but alas, he would not succumb to the cruel pull of the smile. Instead he grabbed the hand on top of his own and kissed it lightly.

"Thanks John, I'm going to go break it off with Terezi right now, thanks for helping me. You got a littler drool on your chin." Dave left the room, his lame cape flowing behind him. John sat there, still, then snapped out of it and wiped his chin. It was dry, Dave was an asshole. John touched his lips lightly with his fingers; he could still feel Dave lips on his own.

John almost jumped up in shock; he was definitely not a homosexual. So why did it make his heart beat faster than normal when Dave kissed him. Why is it that John's face was hot and he was left with a strange feeling in his chest? Why did it feel so good when Dave kissed him? Why did it make him feel better yet worse at the same time? Why did he feel guilt and comfort?

"Dave…" John said quietly and stared at the ground. His thought were flying and he couldn't think straight. John knew he was straight, he had to be. But this is not how you feel when you're straight, you don't suddenly like your bros. And you don't, definitely, certaintly don't fall in love with Dave, he is John's best friend after all. But why is that all you can be?

TBC…

A/N: this was a fun chapter to write, and I'll tell you, not even I was expecting that to happen, but I just thought wow, it's already been so long, let's start the romance. I hope you enjoyed that, please review.


End file.
